The MP has at times been at odds with his own party and with some in the Indigenous community.

Earlier this year, Ouellette said he felt sorry for the family of Gerald Stanley after Stanley was acquitted in the shooting death of Colten Boushie.

Boushie and Ouellette are both from Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

At the time, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs expressed shock at Ouellette’s comments.

In a release, AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said “for a prominent Indigenous MP to support the right of an individual to defend their property in this same manner is reckless and dangerous, and could result in an increase in violent confrontation and the deaths of more innocent people.”

“What Gerald Stanley did was wrong” says Ouellette. “But there are some underlying issues that are not being dealt with and it’s wrong to take the life of a young man, any young man. I offered my regrets that he had taken a life and that he has to bear that for himself.”